The comments made by European Commission Vice-president for Democracy and Demography Dubravka Suica in a Croatian call-in TV show last year were inappropriate, European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly said on Monday.

The Ombudsman’s Office launched an inquiry last July and found that “the Vice-President’s statements could be understood as meaning that the media should not broadcast or publish critical comments about public figures,” the Ombudsman said in her decision.

“The fact that the statements were perceived as such is clearly reflected by the public response, including this complaint and the subsequent media coverage on the incident. Therefore, the Ombudsman found that the statements were inappropriate,” she added.

Last April, Suica called into Dubrovnik Television’s “Voice of the People” show after a viewer called in to ask about how she had accumulated her considerable wealth. She criticized the host Pasko Tomas for not reacting to the viewer’s statement about her wealth, saying that what the viewer had said was “untruths and misinformation.”

After the incident, the European Commission stated that it and Vice-President Suica “attach utmost importance to the freedom of expression and to the freedom and pluralism of the media, which are fundamental European values enshrined in the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.”

“While welcoming these clarifications, the Ombudsman regrets that neither the Commission nor the Vice-President issued an apology in relation to the incident,” the Ombudsman said, calling on the Commission “to remind Commissioners of the need to exercise due caution when making public statements.”